Flowers have big impact on troubled community

January 19, 2011

While studies have documented how receiving fresh flowers makes people react and feel, it seems that a community in Ottawa has taken the positive feelings flowers evoke to a new level.

Residents of the city's Vanier area have used flower boxes to help turn around this once crime-ridden district.

In addition to helping to prevent crime, the community organization Together Vanier created a beautification committee aimed at making the neighborhood look better and become more desirable.

According to YourOttawaRegion.com, the initiative was spearheaded by local residents Lucie Marleau and Marguerite Beaulieu.

"There have been studies done that if you make a place nice people will appreciate it more," Beaulieu told the website.

She's been taking care of the neighborhood's flower boxes since 2003 and says that having flowers has helped improve the community as a whole.

"One time I was cleaning out the flower box and a couple who were on drugs … walked by and told me that there was no use [putting flowers in boxes because] … people would just pull them out," Beaulieu recalled. "I asked him, 'Do you like my flowers? Will you do me a favor, could you keep an eye out for them?' And I have never had a flower pulled out."

Along the same lines, sending blossoms, even inexpensive flowers, can convey a message of caring.

This article is brought to you by Teleflora - a leader in the flower delivery service for over 75 years. Teleflora helps its customers buy flowers online and specializes in bringing the freshest available flowers for a variety of holidays and occasions - all hand-delivered in keepsake vases by the best local florists.

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